Three Italian Movies About Life in Remote Italy

Movies are always a great way to learn more about life in a certain country.

Obviously, movies are not documentaries, so they offer only a fictionalized representation of life. However, they can still offer an insight into daily life or habits, ideas, and problems of a certain culture.

Unfortunately, I do not watch many movies, so I am not an expert on Italian cinema. However, I have recently watched three movies I found really interesting because they have a common theme: life in remote Italy. In Italy, there is a huge difference between life in a big city or a famous tourist place and life in difficult-to-reach, sometimes forgotten (and sometimes even abandoned) locations.

Many people think of Italy as a country with similar habits and ways of life, but this is quite far from the truth. Life in Milan, Turin, or Rome is way different from that in a small village in the mountains or the countryside. Needless to say, people in the center of Rome live in a completely different world from those in the remote outskirts of the city (this is especially true in Rome, which is huge!).

The topic of remote Italian locations and their problems is at the center of many public conversations in Italy. Several books and articles have been written about it, and there are also a lot of independent movies that portray that aspect of Italian life. For example, Le città di pianura, which recently won the David di Donatello prize for best movie, tells about life in the remote north-east.

Le città di pianura is a great movie, but it is very slow and quite difficult to comprehend – and appreciate – if you are not familiar with life in Veneto or Friuli Venezia Giulia. The three movies I watched recently, on the contrary, are comedies: even though they have a clear and serious meaning, they are fast-paced, fun, and easier to enjoy. By the way, all three are by the same director, Riccardo Milani.

Un mondo a parte (A World Apart)

The movie tells the story of Michele Cortese (Antonio Albanese), a disillusioned teacher from Rome. Tired of his life, he manages to get assigned to a small school in a village in the mountains of Abruzzo. He has an idyllic view of rural life, and adjusting to the reality of a new life in a small snow-covered mountain village is really difficult for him. Thanks to the help of another teacher, Agnese (Virginia Raffaele), he adapts to a new life and a new way of being a teacher, which means being an integral part of the community.

One day, they get the news that the school is closing because there are not enough pupils, so they have to engage in a battle to keep the school open. The main theme of the movies is the depopulation of mountain villages, which have almost nothing to offer to younger generations. I loved the movie: it’s moving, sweet, delicate, and full of love for the smaller villages everybody seems to have forgotten!

La vita va così (Life is life)

The movie is based on a true story, that of Ovidio Marras, an 85-year old sheperd who fought against a big real estate giant for years. He managed to stop a huge development project for a luxury resort that would destroy acres and acres of pristine and untouched land in southern Sardinia. If you read my Italian newsletter, Un giro in Vespa, in the past, you may remember that story.

The movie tells the story of Ovidio and his daughter (Virginia Raffaele), who initially is against her father’s battle but then understands its importance, both for her family and for the environment. They have to fight against the real estate company but also against the community, which finally sees the project as a way to get out of unemployment and poverty. It’s again a sweet, heartwarming movie that makes you think about the terrible choice between new jobs and the destruction of nature that many areas have to face.

Come un gatto in tangenziale (Like a Cat on a Highway)

The movie tells the story of Giovanni (Antonio Albanese), who is conducting a study for the European Parliament about life in the outskirts of big cities. He is rich and lives in a beautiful house in the very center of Rome. His ex-wife is off to Provence to grow lavender and make perfumes, while his daughter, Agnese, gives him a shock because she starts dating Alessio, a kid who comes from Bastogi, one of those remote outskirts he focuses his work on.

This forces him to spend time in Bastogi and to interact with Alessio’s mum (Paola Cortellesi) and realize how life really is in those less fortunate areas of a big city like Rome. It’s a movie about social classes and the stereotypes commonly associated with those classes. Also, it is about the huge difference between life in the outskirts and that in the city center, which is where politicians (who often know nothing about certain areas but still make decisions about them) live. It’s the movie I liked least of the three, but I still find it interesting to have a glimpse of life in Rome and how difficult it can be.